Chapter 4
The Greco's
Dave thought about Brian most of the day. He had been friends with him since 3rd grade. Brian had always been there for him as far back as he could remember. A good example for the moment Brian was letting him stay at his apartment while he figured stuff out with Deena, so even though he had his own marital mess with Deena, Brian's stuff seemed more important for the moment and all it did was invade his thoughts.
He knew he wouldn't get much work done so he pushed it aside and decided to call Deena to fill her in. He wasn't' sure if Brian would mind or not, but he thought he should let her know. He knew regardless of what he and his wife were going through that they would need to be there for Brian and put there bitterness aside for the time being. He called Deena and after a few rings she picked up. She must have seen the caller ID, so she answered in that snippy tone that he had grown accustomed to lately
"What Dave" she answered.
"Whoa don't bite my head off" he replied. "I have something important to talk to you about and it isn't about us! It is about Brian, he is going through some serious stuff, so can we just be civil for Brian's sake."
He proceeded to fill her in on all the information that Brian had told him earlier that morning. He also reminded her that it was his Brian's birthday of all things so this stuff couldn't have come at a worse time." Ya know Deena we need to do something for him today to take his mind off all this stuff. I know before Bridget left this morning she told him she wanted to have something special for him."
"I have her Cell number Dave why don't I call her to see what we can come up with I think I will call Nicole too. "Deena said
"OK Deena" Dave said," I will see about getting some of the others together, Adam, Jimmy and Ivy to name a few, but do you think I should tell them anything, I means since the stuff about Davis Realty is all over the news they probably know that, but the adoption stuff?" "No Dave I think we should leave that alone, that's for Brian to tell them". "Ok Dee I will call you later. We have some phone calls to make, and I really should see if I can get some work done."
Back at the church
Brian, Annie and Eric had been talking for quite a while, just getting to know each other. Eric sat there for the most part and just listened to the dialog going back and forth between his wife and son. In the back of his mind Eric trying to come up with the best way to tell the rest of the Camden's. The phone rang in his office but he didn't want to interrupt things so he forwarded calls to his daughter Lucy's cell phone (She was again the associate pastor at the church after a brief time where she had left for a ministry at another town she and her husband Kevin and daughter Savannah moved back to Glen Oak)
"If it was at all important she could handle it for right now." He thought Then it hit him, "this is not only going to affect my family but the congregation too but I can't worry about anyone but my family right now" Eric thought to himself.
Noticing that her husband got awful quiet. Annie asked "Why so quiet what are you thinking about right now?"
"I am thinking about what we talked about this morning Annie. We have to let our children know about Brian, where do we start, how are they going to react to this?"
Brian sensing the tension that just started to occur stiffened up "I didn't come here to cause a problem and I don't want to be a problem or come between you and your kids, maybe I shouldn't have come here"
He got up and tried to leave. Annie stopped him "YOU ARE one of our kids too, and you are NOT A PROBLEM never think that"
and then Eric trying to ease Brian's fears not wanting to scare him off explained, "It is just that we never told anyone other than our parents. I have always emphasized to my congregation and most importantly to our children, the importance of abstinence until you get married and we came down awfully hard on one of your brothers (he meant Simon) when he didn't go that route and actually had a pregnancy scare with a girl at college. We have this belief partly because of our faith but more importantly we never wanted any of our kids to go through what we did."
Then Annie spoke up "giving you up was the hardest thing I have ever…, we have ever had to do. Now, knowing how hard a lot of your life has been I regret it even more because the pain you went through. I hope you can forgive us please know as we said before we will be here for you now if you will let us".
They heard some talking in the hallway; it was Lucy asking the deacon, Lou if he knew where her dad was. He must have told her because the heard her heading toward the office, and the office door was not fully closed. So Lucy knocked but then without waiting came right in.
She was looking down at her paper work while saying "Dad I have some ideas for the youth group I want to run by…"she stopped in mid-sentence as she looked up and saw Brian. "Hey Matt when did you get in I thought you weren't coming back to look at houses until next week" she was only half looking at him while still concentrating on her paperwork. She didn't realize that he wasn't Matt.
Eric spoke up. "Uhm Lucy this isn't Matt". Lucy looked at him REALLY looked at him this time and thought. "Wow he is not Matt but the resemblance is uncanny he almost could be Matt's twin he looked older and he had a thinner build also his hair was lighter brown, but he could have passed for Matt very easily." she thought to herself
Brian broke the silence "Hi I am Brian Davis nice to meet you" (not knowing what else to say).
Now Lucy never known to mince words looked at the three of them and then back at specifically, Brian, "Why do you look so much like my brother Matt?"
Anne got up and motioned Lucy to sit and said "you probably better sit down when we tell you this."
Lucy and Brian both listened as both Annie & Eric went into detail about their relationship in high school and the unplanned pregnancy and all the pain it caused them to give Brian up and that is why they were so adamant about abstinence, and why 04/20 was always circled on the calendar. Lucy sat in utter shock. She felt so many things almost feeling betrayed but also understanding why she and the rest of her brothers and sisters were never told. "I can't imagine what it would be like to give up a child" she thought to herself. "I could never give up her daughter Savannah."
With tears in her eyes she looked at her new found brother, "So you are really my brother, I really don't know what to say, but I guess actions speak louder than words" She then proceeded to get up from where she was sitting & sat next to Brian and gave him the biggest embrace like she would never let him go.
When she finally let him go she sat back and really looked at him and said" did mom and dad show you yet Matt's picture?"
"No they didn't "he replied.
Eric got up and went to his desk; he has quite a lot of family photos of the family, he grabbed a few so Brian could see all of his brothers and sisters he found a recent one of Matt and his wife Sarah and their twin boys Noah and Jacob and showed that one first to Brian.
Brian just stared at it, "they were right they could have been twins" he thought to himself, "No wonder everyone thought I was him." It just blew him away how much they looked alike. He put that photo down and looked at the others. Like that profile had stated he had 7 siblings from this new family that he had to get to know.
